Greenland
by B. Tommorrow
Summary: Iceland had always taken his little brother for granted. He'd never appreciated what they had, and when he finally did, it was too late. Greenland was gone. The relationship between Iceland and Greenland, from the 11th to 15th century. Greenland!OC.


A/N: As mentioned in the summary, this is a fic that has my Greenland!OC in it as one of the main characters (as though the title didn't make that obvious). Anyways, just a little summary of my head-canon for Greenland's nation-tan. In this story Greenland looks a little like Norway, a little like Denmark and a lot like an Inuit. Basically he has Norway's eyes, Denmark's smile and that's it. I firmly believe that Greenland would be an Inuit, simply because a majority of the population is Inuit, historically speaking though, the Vikings were there first, so he would share some features with the Nordics.

That's really all I have to say... well, other than that I don't own Hetalia. Oh! And I apologize for any possible mistakes in my fic, I tried to catch all of them... but yeah... un-betaed

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><p>Greenland<p>

By B. Tommorrow

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><p>The first time Iceland had met Greenland, he'd hated the other boy.<p>

Greenland was ugly, with mud coloured hair and snow-darkened skin. He didn't look like the rest of the Nordics. If he were a real Viking the new colony would have the same fair skin and hair as the rest of them.

Iceland thought that his looks were reason enough to hate the other.

In the boy's thin face, Iceland could see none of the supposed beauty that his country men were so eager to abandon him for. There was nothing special about Greenland, nothing that should've made Norway ignore Iceland to coddle the sickly child.

So Iceland glared at him, using his head of height over the boy to try to make himself look intimidating – Sweden did it all the time, Iceland figured that he could too, especially with how small and weak looking Greenland appeared.

The boy remained unaffected though, and simply smiled up at him. Iceland hated his smile too – Greenland's smile was reminiscent of Denmark's, too wide for his face and far far too happy.

"I'm Grænland!" The toddler introduced himself, loudly.

Iceland scoffed. "I already knew that."

For a moment the boy's smile fell. "Oh." He answered simply, awkwardly. It was quick lived though, as the smile returned seconds later. "Are you going to introduce yourself? Norway said that you'd be one of my brother's too!"

Instead, Iceland pushed the boy away, "I'm not one of your brothers! Stay away from me!"

Greenland, who had not been expecting the violent response, fell backwards and landed hard.

Iceland tried to tell himself that he enjoyed the shocked look on the toddler's face, that he got satisfaction from the tears welling up in Greenland's blue eyes.

Instead he just felt guilty. But he refused to apologize, the other boy deserved it after all, pretending as though he was one of them, as though he was like Iceland and not just an inferior little settlement. Iceland turned around and walked away, what did he care for the heathen anyways? Greenland would never be one of them, soon Norway would realize this and the stupid boy would be left alone to rot on his silly little rock.

_Later Norway had scolded Iceland on his behaviour. _

"_You're a century older then the boy," he'd said in an angry disappointed tone, "you should be above this." _

_Iceland pretended he was sorry, and eventually Norway had left, taking his disappointment and disgust with him. _

_Iceland cried himself to sleep that night. _

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><p>The second time that Iceland saw Greenland would be years later.<p>

They had both joined Norway in hopes of greater protection and the many great things that their elder brother had promised. Iceland supposed he'd been foolish to believe that his brother would keep his promises, they had been wonderful, too wonderful.

And now Norway had told him to go and check on Greenland. Norway knew that Iceland didn't like Greenland, he didn't hate the boy, not anymore, but that didn't mean he had to like the resource grubbing attention grabbing child sitting at the very end of the world.

Even so, Norway had requested he go, apparently the elder nation had no time to travel to the ends of the earth simply to see how his little colony was doing. Apparently Iceland did.

It had been high summer when the boat docked in one of the deep fjords of Greenland's shore, even so there had been a chill in the air. Iceland had shivered even as the Greenlanders had greeted them with cheers and laughter, tears of relief streaming down their faces as they thanked the Icelanders for coming.

It had made Iceland wonder how long Norway had put off this trip.

When Iceland had finally found Greenland in the crowd of people the boy had had his back to him and seemed even smaller than he remembered. His hair was duller, his form more waif-like than ever.

"Norway?" Greenland had asked hopefully, his voice hoarse from sickness.

"No," Iceland replied, "it's Ísland."

The boy had turned and stared up at him with dull eyes, eyes that no longer carried that adventurous gleam that had always set him a part.

"Ísland?" He asked, dull eyes searching his face, and just when Iceland had begun to believe that the boy had forgotten him, the boy gave him a large smile, the same as it had ever been.

"I know you!" The boy had laughed, before grabbing Iceland's hands and dragging him away from his ships and his traders, "you left so soon last time, I never got to show you around!" Greenland told him happily, before he'd dragged him around the small settlement, showing Iceland what little Greenland had to offer.

Still the way Greenland had talked, he'd made it sound as though he was worth more all the treasures in the world.

_Later Greenland would confess that he'd thought no one was going to come for him. After he'd joined Norway, Norway had taken away all his ships. Greenland had thought Norway had forgotten to come back for him. He'd been worried that he was going to starve (again, but he'd left that unsaid.)_

_"But than you came!" He'd told Iceland, "and brought food and clothes. You saved me, you really did." Greenland had said quietly, a desperate look in his dull blue eyes, "Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me."_

_Iceland had just nodded and looked anywhere but into Greenland's eyes. Because if he did, he might've been compelled to tell Greenland that he could understand; tell Greenland about all the times he'd felt all but abandoned by those he called family, about all the times he'd starved or suffered from plague._

_As long as Iceland didn't tell he'd never have to acknowledge how similar they were._

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><p>For the next hundred years Iceland would visit Greenland, every year with ships and supplies. Over time Iceland couldn't help but feel pity for the boy (for surely that was the warm feeling he got in his stomach every time he visited the other nation), no longer clinging to the indifference he'd so long held for the other.<p>

And even though the visits took time away from Iceland that he could've spent doing more productive things (or really nothing at all) Iceland couldn't think of these trips as a waste.

Every year their ships would dock and they would be greeted by a party of joyful Greenlanders, ready to trade their art and animal skins in exchange for the food and clothing the Icelanders had brought. In reality the Greenlanders' barter was worth little to nothing, even so, Iceland would happily take their goods if it made Greenland feel as though he wasn't accepting charity.

And every year Greenland would host a feast, celebrating the year with the Icelanders. Iceland had told Greenland the first year he'd gone to one of the feasts that the boy didn't have to go to such lengths. Greenland had said that he was just being a good host.

Iceland didn't like seeing the boy throw away so much food when he was so thin and sickly himself.

Greenland never seemed to grow, every year Iceland would return, and the boy would be the same as he year before, or maybe even smaller, even more sickly. Iceland worried sometimes that the boy would wither away to nothing.

So Iceland went to the feasts every year, just so he could sneak extra food onto Greenland's plate.

This year was a good year though, and Greenland looked healthier than Iceland had seen him for a long time.

"There was a lot of seal this winter," Greenland has explained with a smile.

"Seal?" Iceland had asked, "have you been hunting with the Skræling again?"

Greenland shrugged, "They aren't bad you know? They aren't even magical! Or demons or anything! They're just like us really! You should come hunting with me before you leave, than you could meet some of them! They're really smart, and they've been helping me and my people a lot lately." He told Iceland exuberantly.

Iceland frowned, "Don't let Norway hear you talking like that," he warned.

"Norway? Norway who? Why should I care if he hears me saying these things or not? They're my people! This is my land!" Greenland snapped angrily, "He has no right to tell me what I am and am not allowed to do! He hasn't even visited! Not once since I signed that stupid agreement! Not once!"

Iceland looked at Greenland in shock, he'd never heard the boy say something bad about Norway. Iceland decided that it was ample time to change the topic.

"Other than seal hunting what else have you been up to this year?" He asked, readying himself for the hours of Greenland explaining to him in much exaggerated detail the many adventures him and his people had gone on that year.

Iceland had never thought that there would be so much to do on such a desolate island as Greenland. But no, Greenland seemed to have an endless amount of tales he could tell about the year.

Normally Iceland would become bored after only a few moments of conversing with someone (it was why him and Norway got along so well, neither of them liked to talk) but with Greenland Iceland was never bored. Greenland was really the only person that could make Iceland laugh.

Without tickling him that is.

_The next year Greenland had warned Iceland that he should leave early, that Old Man Winter was arriving sooner than usual that year._

_So Iceland had left, weeks before usual, with a wave goodbye and a wish of good fortune._

_The year after Iceland didn't go to visit Greenland, there were no ships for him to board. The sea had frozen and by the time it had melted a voyage would've been too dangerous. Iceland had worried and worried, tried to assure himself that Greenland would be fine by himself for one year. _

_But than one year had turned into many, and slowly Iceland had forgotten, too swept up in the rest of the world to remember a little boy living at the edge of earth._

The next time Iceland saw Greenland it would be long after the ice age had ended.

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><p>"Did you know that there's a church right at the edge of the map?" Italy had told the Nordic brothers enthusiastically, his small legs swinging excitedly as he blabbed on, "Romano's boss was looking at this really <em>really <em>old map and he found one! Right at the very edge! He even let me see, ve!"

Denmark hummed quietly, only really half-listening to the Italian, most of his attention focused on polishing his prized axe.

"It's why I came here actually!" Italy continued, "Romano sent me because he's really busy, you know? He told me that I had to find some one with boats! So I thought, Denmark! He has the best boats in the entire world ve!"

This seemed to gain Denmark's entire attention, "well kid, you're right about that! No other nation is as skilled at navigating the sea as us Danish!" He boasted, never one to let an opportunity to brag pass by.

Italy smiled, "That's so great ve!" He cheered, wiggling in his seat as though just sitting still like a normal person was too much of a challenge. "It means you'll help us right?" Italy finally asked, "Our boss would really appreciate the help, after all! None of our ships are good enough to make it all the way to the end of the world!"

Denmark sighed, "what do you want?" Though he was beginning to suspect that he already knew.

Italy's smile grew larger than any of the Nordics had thought possible, "Ve~ well you see, our boss just wanted someone to go and check on the people there for us, we can't be losing any of our subject to heathens after all!" He explained happily.

"Okay." Denmark started sarcastically, "so again, why should I send my ships off to 'the edge of the world?' It's not like there's anything there after all."

Italy pouted, "Ve! There is too!" He protested sounding offended, "there's some place called Greenland! And it isn't like we are asking you to go for nothing! Our boss promises that if you do this you'll be rewarded handsomely for your work! It's in the name of God! You have to do it!"

"Greenland?" Denmark asked, eyebrows knotting together, "never heard of it."

Norway cleared his throat, "Greenland was one of my colonies," he explained, giving Denmark a exasperated glare, "you would've known that had you read all of those documents you were supposed to."

Iceland sat silently in his corner, guilt flooding his mind as he watched his older brother's argue.

He'd forgotten all about Greenland, the starving little boy trying to eek out a living on a rock of ice. There was no way that he was still alive, Iceland knew this, there was no way, it had been far too long. Iceland tried to count the years between now and the last time he had seen the boy, but there were too many, decades too many.

"So will you send a ship?" Italy asked. And before Denmark could reply Iceland stood.

"I'll go," he promised, ignoring Italy's squealed thank yous.

_When summer came Iceland boarded a ship headed towards Greenland. The ship was smaller than the ones he had used to send to Greenland, it also carried less goods. They were looking for ghost towns after all._

_And fjord after fjord that was all they found, until, much to Iceland's shock they finally found a dock, people rushing to it. For a frantic moment Iceland had searched for Greenland's face, for his tiny form hidden behind one of the adults. But the boy was nowhere to be found._

_They had exited the boats and had been greeted like returning heroes, the Greenlanders crying thanks to them in old Nordic._

_It had made Iceland feel sick._

_For weeks Iceland had stayed in Greenland, hoping that the little nation would somehow appear with a smile and a laugh._

_It wasn't until Iceland had given up hope and was readying to leave that Greenland had decided to show himself._

_The nation was no longer the small, thin, sickly child from Iceland's memories. Greenland was taller and darker than before, he wore seal skins in a way that was definitely not European. He stood before Iceland as a strong young man, with eyes that shone brighter than they had ever while Greenland was Nordic._

_"I'm sorry," Iceland had immediately apologized, "I'm so sorry."_

_"I waited," Greenland told him, he didn't say it in the angry accusing way he had spoken of Norway, instead he just sounded disappointed, as though he had expected better of Iceland. "I was always waiting. You never came."_

_"I," Iceland wet his lips, and tried his hardest to not look as guilty as he felt, "I'm really sorry. The sea froze over - there was an ice age. It was too risky to send a ship." Iceland explained._

_"You could've."_

_"I couldn't! Don't you understand!" Iceland snapped in frustration, why couldn't Greenland just forgive him, why couldn't Greenland just go back to being the little kid that had been entirely dependant on him, that Greenland would've forgiven him in a heartbeat._

_"You could've tried!" Greenland argued._

_"No I couldn't have! Any ship I'd have sent would've gotten stuck! Are you saying you wanted me to send my people to die!" _

_For a long moment Greenland just stared at Iceland, his sharp blue eyes judging, making Iceland feel as though he were absolutely worthless._

_Greenland exhaled softly and his eyes were no longer glaring just sad. Some how this change made Iceland feel even worse._

_Greenland turned around than and began to walk off, but just before he made it to the end of the docking cove he turned. "If it had been you," Greenland began, "know that I would've tried."_

_And with that he was gone. It would be the last time Iceland ever saw Greenland._

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><p>AN: Hahaha, so if you made it through that, congratulations! So um... yeah... This is a story about the historical relationship between Iceland and Greenland... from 1000 AD to the late 15th century (early 16th?)! I would like to first, apologize if anyone found this offensive... ... ... I was trying to keep with the attitudes of the people at the time... nobody really liked each other during the medieval ages... :PPP

Next I would like to apologize for any historical inaccuracies, I am sure there are some, after all this is based after information gleaned from one book. And that book was written quite a while ago, in fact it was written such a long while ago that some of the theories outlined with in have been supported or disproved with today's improved technologies.

Now! Onto historical notes!

1. _"The first time Iceland had met Greenland, he'd hated the other boy." _Back when Greenland was first being colonized by the Vikings (mostly Icelandic Vikings) the two nations didn't really get along. There was a huge superiority complex that ran both ways during the time, so the two butted heads a lot. There was never really any fighting (as far as I know) between Iceland and Greenland, at least not directly. Skirmishes did happen, but mostly in the new world.

2. _"In the boy's thin face, Iceland could see none of the supposed beauty that his country men were so eager to abandon him for." _There were a lot of Icelanders leaving Iceland to set up home in the new land, which is actually one of the causes of the Icelanders' low opinions of the new colony. When Greenland was first discovered it was going through a boom period, mild weather (for Greenland) and longer summers. This helped lure Vikings to the new land since there was a lot of potential wealth sitting in it. Greenlandic resources (Ivory, furs, animals) went for quite a high price on the market at the time period, so there was the added pull of those factors as well. On top of that, Iceland was going through a drought, so this led to poor Icelandic people fleeing the country in hopes of finding wealth (and sometimes a chance to live) in another country.

3. _"There was nothing special about Greenland, nothing that should've made Norway ignore Iceland to coddle the sickly child." _The Norwegian nobility were quite taken by the new colony, many showing interest in the resources that Greenland provided and the stories that came out of the new colony. There was quite a bit of mystique around Greenland when it was first discovered making the new nation even more interesting than it otherwise would have been.

4. _"They had both joined Norway in hopes of greater protection and the many great things that their elder brother had promised. Iceland supposed he'd been foolish to believe that his brother would keep his promises, they had been wonderful, too wonderful."_ Prior to the 1300s both Greenland and Iceland had been sovereign nations. However they both signed away their rights and freedoms to Norway in hopes of improved trade. This didn't really fall through and both Iceland and Greenland suffered greatly from the union. Greenland more so. Norway banned boat building and boat owning in Greenland, leading to mass emigration, and the people remaining behind being stranded. That along with the fact that a majority (if not all) of the resources present on Greenland were worthless on the global market, this led to mass poverty and starvation. The only resources Greenland did have that were good for trading, were actually in Canada, and without ships they could not extract these resources. This union between Greenland and Norway would eventually lead to the end of Viking Greenland.

5. _"Later Greenland would confess that he'd thought no one was going to come for him." _The first boats to go to Greenland after they had signed away their rights didn't show up for at least two years after the union. This didn't bode well for the Vikings in Greenland as they were very much European in their living styles, and that way of living was not suited for a land as North as Greenland. So before the ships came a lot of Greenlanders died of starvation and hypothermia. So when the ships did finally come the Greenlanders greeted the envoy as though they were heroes, even throwing them a great feast.

6. _"[E]yes that no longer carried that adventurous gleam that had always set him a part." _Greenland was actually the nation that sent the most colonizers to Vinland (or Newfoundland) and the North American continent (mostly Canada, but possibly some of the USA as well). Greenlanders liked to explore, especially in the early colonization days. The people moving to Greenland were just as willing to pack up and make their way down to Leifsbudír. When the colonization failed they mostly went to new lands for resources and nothing else, even so the Greenlanders did map out some of Canada and Newfoundland in astounding detail over these years of exploration.

7. _"For the next hundred years Iceland would visit Greenland, every year with ships and supplies." _So for around 100 years most trade between Greenland and anyone else happened through Iceland. Since Iceland was the closest nation at the time, most ships that visited Greenland were Icelandic, as such, the Icelanders would trade their food and clothing for whatever the Greenlanders had that they wanted. Pretty much. For the sake of the story I am going to pretend that these ships did show up once a year, but in honesty the visits were quite sporadic and usually did not occur annually.

8. _""Seal?" Iceland had asked, "have you been hunting with the Skræling again?"" _So there was speculation that there was trade that occurred between the Inuit on Greenland and the Vikings on Greenland. Basically, after Norway, things began to get so bad in Greenland that to survive the smart Vikings abandoned the European way of life and joined the Inuit tribes, or at the very least, exchanged hunting tips, fish, gametes (_ Come on, **Vikings** it's not like they're so incredibly ethnocentric that they would be picky) and maybe even technology and cultural icons (Greenlandic art was very similar to that of the Inuit). However, the connection between Seal hunting and hanging out with the Inuit, is completely unfounded. Vikings hunt seal, I just needed to introduce this idea.

9._ "They aren't even magical! Or demons or anything!" _There were a lot of crazy theories that the Vikings held about the aboriginal people of North America, here are a few.

10. _""Did you know that there's a church right at the edge of the map?[...] Romano's boss was looking at this really really old map and he found one! Right at the very edge! He even let me see, ve!""_ That's right, Italy is the one who rediscovered Greenland. Just kidding, but in all honesty, likeliness would've been that Greenland would have been left on it's own for even longer had the current Pope at the time not noticed it on a map and requested Denmark send a bishop to the church situated on the island.

11. _"Romano sent me because he's really busy, you know?" _The Pope that I mentioned above was Alexander VI, so, if any of you know the Borgia than you probably have an idea as to why Romano was so busy. It was the renaissance in Italy and there was a lot of internal strife occurring between the various regions. In fact, Italy wasn't really a unified country at this point. So really I should be referring to Feli as Veneziano... but whatever.

12. _"We can't be losing any of our subject to heathens after all!" _Religion, it meant all in that day and age. So yeah, the entire reason that Italy asked was to make sure that the church was alright and everyone was good and dead in the proper Catholic way. No one actually believed that anyone was going to be alive. So yeah.

13. _""I'll go," he promised, ignoring Italy's squealed thank yous." _I don't actually think that the ship that was sent this time was Icelandic, Denmark actually went himself! But for the sake of this story, Iceland sent a ship.

14. _"They had exited the boats and had been greeted like returning heroes, the Greenlanders crying thanks to them in old Nordic." _This apparently happened. Even after a century the Greenlanders greeted the incoming ships. Apparently though, the Greenlandic population had a lot of problems by this point, mostly with nutrition and genetic diseases. The two towns that were left that were "Viking" (the rest had been "invaded" by the "Skræling") were so inbred that the people living in the towns were small and had problems with the shapes of their skeletons.

15. _. "He stood before Iceland as a strong young man, with eyes that shone brighter than they had ever while Greenland was Nordic." _The Inuit flourished in Greenland, so as a Viking Greenland was a sick and faltering child, as an Inuit he is a strong and growing teen.

16. _"It would be the last time Iceland ever saw Greenland." _Again for the sake of the story, Iceland never returned to Greenland, or ever saw Greenland even on the world stage.

Pssh... and my notes are almost as long as my entire story... *criessilently*


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